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Re: [orca-list] Linux security [was "Re: Ubuntu 18.04 used for general business"]

I never said Windows was as secure as Linux, and I first responded to this thread when someone said Linux was virus free. Two examples I gave of malware on Linux were Shellshock and Dirty COW, which have nothing to do with special packages someone might install on a server and actually didn't require someone to install any packages at all. 


On 05/09/2018 08:52 AM, John G Heim wrote:
Just to be clear though, nobody said linux is immune from attacks. What people said was that you are not going to get a virus if you stick to official package archives. that is a major point in favor of linux. Although, I would think that by now, someone has put together the equivalent of a package archive for Windows. There is probably some place that collects virus-free shareware and supplies it's own program to manage/install programs from the archive. You would probably have to pay for it though. IMO, the only way you can say Windows is as secure as linux is to compare apples and oranges. A good example of this is how people who are claiming that linux has security problems often point to server app like ssh and apache. But Windows doesn't come with ssh. If you go out and find an ssh daemon for Windows, it's going to have the same issues as the linux ssh program. Probably more because the whole world keeps an eye on the linux ssh code but your Windows ssh server was probably written by one guy (who may or may not be supporting it any more).
IMO, the ability to easily install virus free apps for almost anything is a huge advantage for linux. For desktops, that overwhelms all other considerations. You need an app to edit sound files? There are like 20 of them in the official linux repositories for every distro. Email, text editor? The problem is choosing one. 


On 05/08/2018 06:12 PM, Christopher Chaltain wrote:
Actually, I was trying to remember Dirty COW, but this sounds familiar as well. 


On 05/08/2018 06:09 AM, Willem van der Walt wrote:

I think you might refer to hart bleed, an ssh vulnerability.
I agree with Christopher, one cannot say that Linux or any other OS is immune to attacks. 
If you say that, you are not long enough in IT.
However, I think most people on this list run Linux just as a desktop and not as a server, in which case most of the few linux holes would not apply to them. 
Regards, Willem


On Tue, 8 May 2018, Christopher Chaltain wrote:
We've had two alerts for Linux malware where I work in the past year or two. one was for Shellshock, and I don't remember the name of the other malware. We passed them on to one of our vendors who uses Linux servers to provide their services to us and asked for documentation that they had installed the necessary patches to close off these vulnerabilities. A quick web search will show multiple studies and articles that with the rise of Linux servers in the cloud and IOT devices Linux is being targeted more and more by black hatters. Linux is more secure then other options but to say that it's virus free or immune to malware is more then a bit misleading. 


On 05/08/2018 04:51 AM, Jude DaShiell wrote:
Protection goes a little farther than that, directories or folders have their own sets of permissions and if memory serves devices which are above directories in the hierarchy can have their own permissions as well. 

On Tue, 8 May 2018, Krishnakant Mane wrote:


Date: Tue, 8 May 2018 01:37:03
From: Krishnakant Mane <kkmane riseup net>
To: kendell clark <coffeekingms gmail com>,
    "orca-list gnome org" <orca-list gnome org>
Subject: Re: [orca-list] Ubuntu 18.04 used for general business
On the security side I might just add that Linux follows some standards which make it practically next to impossible for making virus.
The thing is that there are sets of permissions for every file aka read, write and execute.
although downloading software that you don't trust may damage either your user account or entire OS, there is no such Windows style virus where the thing can automatically "infect " your machine and self execute without you even knowing it.
As Kendle properly pointed out, if you know what you are doing, then you are very secured.
This is unlike Windows, where no matter how much you know, there is still great possibility of some thing automatically infecting your OS, even when you just insert pen drive or that sort. 

Happy hacking.

Krishnakant.


On Tuesday 08 May 2018 10:18 AM, kendell clark wrote:


 Hi
 I?ll second this, adding that I personally prefer the mate desktop, but 
 either mate or gnome work equally well, and gnome has some online
 integration with services like google drive and iCloud that mate currently  doesn?t have. The only thing that Linux does not do very well, and this is  my own personal opinion is syncing apple media players like iPods and  iPads, although it can be done with apps like gtkpod, gtkpod has some  accessibility issues. Depending on your business Linux might serve you  very well or it isn?t even an option. I will add that for most general  business tasks, word processing, calendaring, email, web browsing Linux  works well. As for viruses, you are extremely unlikely to get malware if  you use software available from your local software app, like software  boutique for ubuntu or the official repositories of whatever Linux distro  you pick. It is still theoretically possible, but you have to work hard at  it to manage it. Software package managers like apt verify packages with  unique hashes and won?t allow you to install software that doesn?t match  those hashes by default, though this can be worked around if needed, it?s  not a good idea to do so unless you know what you?re doing. Opinions  differ on orca?s suitability as a day to day screen reader, my personal  opinion is that it works very well. It has bugs like all software does,  some of them annoying, but joanie does a fantastic job, and not just of  fixing orca bugs, but bugs in other pieces of accessibility software. 
 Linux also has apps for other disabilities, like onboard on screen
 keyboard and magnifiers, the best integrated into the gnome desktop and 
 the compiz window manager.

 Thanks

 Kendell Clark

 *From: *Christopher Chaltain <mailto:chaltain gmail com>
 *Sent: *Monday, May 7, 2018 6:16 PM
 *To: *Krishnakant Mane <mailto:kkmane riseup net>; sonfire11 gmail com 
 <mailto:sonfire11 gmail com>; orca-list gnome org
 <mailto:orca-list gnome org>
 *Subject: *Re: [orca-list] Ubuntu 18.04 used for general business
 Linux is safer then other operating systems, but it isn't virus free. 
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_malware
 I find Gnome to be your most accessible option, but I do know Mate is a 
 very popular desktop, especially among the blind.

 On 05/07/2018 07:03 AM, Krishnakant Mane wrote:

     Hi,
     Firstly, ubuntu or any GNU/Linux brand for that matter is virus free. 

     There is a lot of stability and ease of working.
     You can try GNUKhata an accounting software if your business is      big enough.? <testing.gnukhata.in> will give you the live demo.
     If the work is very small and you want a stand-alone software, you      can try GNUCash, although I must warn that a lot of features are 
     primitive/ missing.
     Another thing about? Ubuntu is that there is a lot of us who help 
     people do their computing with total comfort.
     Now a days a lot of huge and medium enterprises are using Ubuntu 
     in their offices.
     I would recommend using Ubuntu-mate 18.04 for best accessibility. 

     Spreadsheets are also working pretty much fine as far as
     accessibility is concerned.

     You may have to spend a little while to learn Orca.
     Things like alt for menus and cut copy paste shortcuts are same. 

     Alt + f4 will close the application.

     Most names of the menus in programs are also same.

     So go ahead and feel those advantages for 0 cost!

     happy hacking.

     Krishnakant.

     On Monday 07 May 2018 04:58 PM, sonfire11 gmail com
     <mailto:sonfire11 gmail com> wrote:

         Hi,
         I will soon be a business owner. I want to know the benefits 
         of using Ubuntu 18.04 over Windows 10 for general business
         scenarios. What are the pros/cons? What is better from an
         accessibility perspective? What financial record keeping apps 
         are accessible? What about presentations?




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     Log bugs and feature requests athttp://bugzilla.gnome.org



 --
 Christopher (CJ)
 Chaltain at Gmail



 _______________________________________________
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 Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
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 Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org








_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
GNOME Universal Access guide: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html 
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org


_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
GNOME Universal Access guide: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html 
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org


--
Christopher (CJ)
Chaltain at Gmail






--
Christopher (CJ)
Chaltain at Gmail
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